Archive for the Links tag

Mike

TVFox’s fall schedule (LW) was released today. Fox starts off with a lead over NBC because I actually watch some series on Fox: New Girl (which needs help), The Mindy Project (which is one of my favorites and really pulled it together this season), The Simpsons (still going), and Family Guy (which still brings it most weeks).

Any of the new shows interesting? Oh yes. I think I’m in on Gotham, the Batman before he became Batman. It look to focus on not-yet-Commissioner Gordon and all the villains along with a young Bruce Wayne. Check out the trailer. Then there is Gracepoint, which is an American version of Broadchurch (both starring David Tenant). The one reason I might not watch is if I catch up on Broadchurch this summer. I’m in on Mulaney, I don’t even know what it’s about, but he’s hilarious and has earned a shot.

Now some videos from last night …
The Simpsons couch gag was the Game of Life. (LW)

Last Week Tonight at least had the right number of people for an actual climate debate. (LW)

TV
Upfronts are apparently coming up soon. Usually that means lots of cancellation news, but it seems that most of my favorites fate has already been decided. Only Community is still up in the air. This year all the news seems to be around pilots.

Difficult People on USAÂ (LW) created by Billy Eichner and Julie Klausner. Most of the news stories focus on Amy Poehler producing, and sheâ€™s great, but you have me sold on Eichner/Klausner. The show is about best friends who hate everyone except each other, so it sounds perfect. Itâ€™s on USA, which I hadnâ€™t watched in forever, I think they used to show American Gladiators in the mornings during the summer. Recently, they hooked me with Playing House, which is a slightly different show from Best Friends Forever, but mostly the same, as it should be because NBC should have never cancelled it.

Rashida Jones had a pilot picked up on TBS (LW). Itâ€™s produced by Steve Carell and his wife and sounds a bit like Brooklyn Nine-Nine just because itâ€™s a cop comedy. Making fun of Law & Order, Rashida will work in the RHCU, Really Heinous Crimes Unit.

Last, for the Philly based fans. The Eagles arenâ€™t brining back Dan Baker (LW). You might not know the name but if you have been to a Phillies or Eagles game, then you know his voice. Always seemed to me like a while Phillies season was enough, so hopefully heâ€™ll enjoy a lot of free Sundays.

Mike

Myq Kaplan – Meat RobotI’ve been trying to utilize Spotify to listen to more comedy albums. I’ve queued up some new ones and some classics. Myq Kaplan obviously falls into the newer category, and this album was released this year. I’m not going to be sharing every one I listen to. So the fact that it’s here means that I really enjoyed it. He has a lot of really smart humor (I’m a sucker for math jokes) and is quite skilled in the deadpan misdirection.

Brewers offering $10 concession vouchers at August home games
My trip to Wisconsin in a few weeks just got $10 cheaper. The team says they were planning this before Ryan Braun’s suspension, but now it’s being tied to that not just because of timing but because the amount the team won’t have to pay Braun the rest of this season is very similar to how much this program will cost. It sounds like the vouchers can be used on just about anything in the stadium: food, beverages, tickets (where I assume you get another voucher), and merchandise. You can hang on to them and combine them, so that’s cool for season ticket holders who could save up a few hundred bucks during the month and go crazy at the team store.

Mike

Ars: Why YouTube Buffers
I’d recommend this article to anyone who users the internet. So, everybody. It doesn’t get too technical and explains a bit about how the content you consume online (specifically YouTube and Netflix) make it from it’s source to your house. It’s not Verizon or Comcast connecting right to Google or Netflix.

There has been lots of talk online about Verizon and Netflix and how companies aren’t cooperating causing Netflix to be unusable at times. I have Verizon Fios at home and haven’t noticed any major issues. Sometimes it takes a long time to start playing, but I don’t run in to buffering issues. YouTube also has been fairly solid, although not perfect. However, having Comcast for the past few months, I can understand the YouTube frustrations. With Comcast, every few days YouTube would just stop playing videos for a few hours. Although for Comcast that’s a step up from when we first got their cable internet and every few days the whole internet would just not work for a few days.

Mike Herrera on Stage It
If you don’t recognize the name, he is the lead singer of MxPx. If you have known me at any point since 10th or 11th grade, then you’ll know that band. Just listening to the Tomorrow is Another Day track is a musical time machine back to high school. The track on the link is live and acoustic, he stops a few times along the way. Here is an album version to hear it with the full band.

The 8-track performance on Bandcamp was done on Stageit, which I wasn’t familiar with. Taking a look at the site, I’m a huge fan of the idea, so long as the quality is there. An artist or band can decide they are going to do a show from their webcam. Tickets are sold and then fans can watch and chat (even with the band) during the performance. Most of the shows I clicked on are Pay What You Can, but you can also Tip, and Top Tippers get rewards from the bands.

The site says that the shows aren’t recorded so they are once-in-a-lifetime, but the Mike Herrera one is on Bandcamp. I would think Stageit would also want to sell the live tracks for them and the musicians to make as much as possible. People would still pay more for the live experience, especially with the interactivity and rewards.

I didn’t recognize many of the bands currently on the site, but it looks like they’ve had some in the past. I’ll have to keep an eye on it.

Mike

Creed
A Rocky spin-off featuring the grandson of Apollo Creed being trained by Rocky. Are tickets on sale yet? Michael B. Jordan will play the lead. He’s popping up everywhere. And while I’m sure Fruitvale Station is an amazing movie, I don’t think I’d be able to watch it.

PitchSwap
Saw this on the Technical.ly Philly blog. Sounds like this is usually an event where you pitch your ideas but is now trying a web site. It reminded me of ThePult, just before the idea, where ThePult is for after launching. So far there is just one pitch. I like the idea so I’m going to keep an eye on it, hoping to see lots of interesting ideas.

Freakanomics Radio: The Upside of Quitting
I’m finally reading Freakanomics (I think it was really cheap on Amazon), but I’ve seen the documentary and subscribed to the podcast. This is only the second episode that sounded interesting enough to listen. I’m not sure you need the whole hour to get the point that quitting isn’t so bad.

I completely agree, no surprise, since I decided to listen. I don’t think I’ve quit nearly as much as I should have in my life. I quit baseball during high school, that came more from a series of bad coaches than not wanting to play anymore. I quit my job to go back to school. A possibly crazy decision that I’ve never once regretted. Most everything else I muddle through until I get to the finish line.

These days when I think about quitting, it’s a variety of things, from simple to large. Should I delete a TiVo Season Pass for a show that I don’t really like anymore that has become more chore than enjoyment? The most recent examples are Mad Men and The Newsroom. Should I unsubscribe from a podcast or give up on a book or video game that is just average? There is so much good content that I have to raise the bar a bit to great to free up time to write more than one blog post a month.

The more complicated decisions come to projects I work on. Some of them I’ve worked on over a few years, others are some that I just spent a lot of time on recently. Most of them don’t require much time currently, but none of them have been successful, so why bother to continue? One problem is a lack of feedback. No one ever provides feedback, positive or negative. So I never know if my idea or execution is lacking or just poor marketing. At some point I think I’ll have collected enough domains that one of them will come up for renewal and the $10 will push me over the edge. I like cheap domains, but if they were a little more expensive, I’d do a little more contemplating when it comes time to renew.

Mike

QI InfocloudSadly I only discovered QI a few months ago. I’m upset at everyone that I didn’t find out sooner. I don’t remember exactly where I found out about it, but it wasn’t from a friend. The show is on the BBC and the show is just a panel that discusses some amazing, or Quite Interesting facts, that are so amazing, you get mad you didn’t already know them.

This Infocloud site is a great web time killer to find out a bunch of facts on various topics. You can pick from the cloud of topics, or, cause you can’t really pick, just click ‘Lucky Dip’ for a random one.

St. Louis Cardinals – Baseball Village
Watching the Phillies end their season again, until they sweep the Tigers this weekend, only to blow it again next week, while visiting St. Louis, the announcers highlighted the construction of the Cardinals Baseball Village. I’ve seen enough of these entertainment complexes near newer stadiums. They are usually feeble attempts to show that stadiums actually improve the surrounding community. The Cardinals one is right next to the stadium and will have bleacher seats to watch the games, plus a Cardinals Hall of Fame. I was a big fan all around.

Jack Handey
I don’t think I knew Jack Handey was an actual person. Or at least that while he may have been a real person that multiple people wrote the Deep Thoughts on SNL. Apparently he is a real guy and this NY Times piece is a good look at him and his career.

Mike

Crabtree – Harrell 08
Texas Tech has put together a campaign for their QB Graham Harrell and WR Michael Crabtree for award season. They are calling it Pass or Catch 2008. Crabtree’s video asks what happens if he doesn’t grab the ball out of the air? Harrell’s video asks how those balls that Crabtree catches get in the air? Right now I would vote for Harrell because of his superior slogan: ‘Footballs don’t magically fly. Its Science.’

I hope they do a few more rounds of this back and forth. The first two videos are very enjoyable. I haven’t seen anything like this before. There usually isn’t a lot of campaigning by the schools for awards. I’m pretty sure all the Joey Harrington hype was generated by Nike.

Fives: Lou Marson
On Sunday the Phillies sent out quite a lineup. Really, check the box score. I wasn’t sure if a few of those players were even on the roster. It didn’t matter much, the division was clinched on Saturday. During the game, 3rd-string catcher and Olympian Lou Marson hit his first major league home run. He received the traditional greeting in the dugout from his teammates for a first home run. The video captures the entire thing.

Yankees Batboy
I heard about a podcast called The Moth. It posts stories that are read on stage at one of their locations. One of the first ones I heard was by Matthew McGrough. He is a writer on Law & Order and wrote a book called ‘Batboy: Coming of Age with the New York Yankees.’ The story he tells on the podcast is about getting the job of batboy for the Yankees and his first day, opening day. There isn’t a page for the individual show, here is the mp3 audio. I really enjoyed it and recommend a listen to any baseball fan.